Campus passes Rec Sports Master Plan with wide margin

After months of campaigns, the University of Wisconsin will move forward with Recreational Sports’ Master Plan after the plan passed in a campus-wide referendum.

With a total campus turnout of 34.4 percent, 12,070 students voted yes, while 1,914 voted down the proposal.

The $223 million dollar Master Plan includes renovations of the Natatorium, the Southeast Recreational Facility and the Near East and Near West outdoor fields.

Students will fund a maximum of 57 percent of this 223 million dollar project.

Currently, UW students are paying $36.78 in segregated fees to Rec Sports, which will increase to a maximum of $144.78 in 2017.

ASM announced the results of the referendum in an event Wednesday evening.

Photo by Aliya Iftikhar

Forty-three percent of the funding for the plan has already been secured through alternative funding measures from the UW Foundation, UW Athletics, private donors and the state.

The Near West fields will be the first to reopen in 2016. Construction will begin in 2017 on the SERF which is expected to reopen in 2019. The Nat is expected to reopen in 2021 and the Near East Fields in 2022.

There will be a $6 increase in segregated fees for Rec Sports next year, which has already been approved by SSFC.